Friday, December 2, 2011

The rough blueprint for "Black Up" sounds pretty ambiguous on paper: De-constructed film version of Shabazz Palaces' critically acclaimed 2011 debut, Black Up... a fragmented stream of consciousness short film, all set to a score made up of segmented LP tracks. With that said, Kahlil Joseph's "Black Up" is truly a murky, concept-heavy affair, which co-stars Palaceer Lazaro & Tendai Naraire throughout. Joseph has proven to be a frequent collaborator of the Seattle-based Hip-Hop/Jazz Fusion artists.Shabazz Palaces' featured scenes are inter-spliced against "artsy" frames, littered with [quick] images of plants, streetcars, pork chops, bodies in trees... a Gil Scott-Heron tribute, interpretive dancing, Hip-Hop clichés, and the ocean. I believe that the film's soundtrack features samplings of several Black Up cuts including: "free press," "recollections," "youlogy," and some sort of Chopped & ScrewedRemix of THEESatisfaction (vocal hooks). Black Up is highly recommended and now available, by way of Sub Pop.

About Me

Greetings, people of the world... Matt Horowitz aka "The Witzard" here. I'm a 28-year-old college grad hailing from South Jersey. After receiving degrees in both Journalism and Business Management, I started this very blog around 2010 in an effort to share my vast knowledge of Pop Culture to help sharpen my writing chops. I thoroughly enjoy all things Pop Culture and some of my favorite genres include Punk, Hip-Hop, Indie Rock, etc. But I'll practically listen to anything once. I'm also an avid record collector and honestly, almost anything sounds better on wax! Thank you kindly for listening... Your support is much appreciated! Peace & love. sharpcheddar856@gmail.com